Chair



Feb. 23, 1932. l. c. DECKER 1,846,797

CHAIR Filed July 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Feb. 23, 1932 UNITEDstares ISAAC G. DECKER,

eave? or MONTGOMERY, PENNSYLVANIA CHAIR Application filed July 6, 1929.Serial No. 376,437.

This invention pertains to chairs. to do particularly with chairs of thereclining type in which theback and seat are connected so that they maybe moved together.

The primary object'of the invention is to furnish improved operatingmechanism between the'back and seat, whereby any one occupying the chairmay readily effect adj ustment of the back and seat to accommodate hisparticular desires by simply altering-the position of his body, g It isintended that the adjustable back and seat have a range of movement fromsitting position to full lounging or reclining position, with provisionfor automatic maintenance of the parts in any adjusted relation as longas the position of the occupants body remains unchanged. Means areprovided for automatically returning the parts to their normal, sittingposition when the occupant leaves the chair.

A feature of my improved chair construction is the utilization ofthe-weight of the occupants body'to automatically hold the back and seatin any adjusted position.

Further objects will appear from the detailed description givenhereinafter. I

In the accompanying drawings, there'is illustrated a practicalembodimentof the invention. In these,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the chair with the parts in theirnormal or sitting position, certain of the parts being shown in sectionin order to make clearthe details of construction Fig. 2, a similar viewwith the parts in full lounging or reclining position; 7

Fig. 3. a horizontal section taken on line 33ofFig.1;

'Fig. 4, a section taken 1; an

Fig. 5, a fragmentary perspective view of one of the lower corners ofthe back and a part of the operating mechanism connected therewith.

' It has -The outer face of plate on line 44 of Fig.

The chair consists of a main frame-work 1 provided with the usual legs 2andarms 3. Frame-work 1 is made up of side boards 4:, 5, and endboards'6, 7.' These are firmly connected together at their extremitiesto provide a rigid frame which is adapted to support the other parts ofthe chair proper and also themechanism which permits rela tiveadjustment of the seat and the back.

Attached to the inner faces of sidevboards 4, 5 of the chair frame isthe mechanism by I which the chair back 8 is mounted for pivotal orswinging movement in the framezl and is operatively connected with theseat 9. Inasmuch as this mechanism is dupli- 0 cated on each side of thechair, only one of the devices will be described in detail.

Each device comprises an elongated metal plate 10 suitably secured, asby means of screws, to the inner face of side board 4 near 5 the rearend thereof. In this plate 10 and the corresponding plate on theoppositeside of the chair the back 8' is adapted to be pivotallymounted, as will .be described more particularly hereinafter.

Also secured to the inner face ofside board 4, but near the front endthereof, is a second elongated metal plate 11. Pivotally mountedintermediate its ends on the inner face of plate 11 and on a rivet 12extending through triangular plate 13. 13 is provided with a pin 14 inits lower left hand corner to which is connected one end of acoil spring15. The oppositeend of the spring is attached at 16 8 to side board 4:of the frame. One end of an elongated floating bar 17 is pivotallyconnected at .17 to the lower right hand corner of the triangular plate13. The opposite end of bar 17 is bent outwardly to provide aninclined'bearing portion 18 which acts on the under side of the seat toeflect raisingand lowering thereof aswill be explained later. 7

To the upper corner of plate 13 there is pivthe twomembers, is a otallyconnected by means of a rivet 19 a link 20, the rivet extending throughsuitable openings provided in the two members for this purpose. A studor pin 21 projects from the outer face of bar 17 intermediate its endsand has its outer end extending through an inclined slot 22 provided inlink 20. Pin 21 has an enlarged outer end 23 located adjacent the outerface of link 20, so as to retain the pin at all times in slot 22. Adepression 2A (see Fig. 2) is provided in the upper left hand end ofslot 22 in which pin 21 is located normally, as shown in Fig. 1.

At its rear end link 20 is pivotally connected by a rivet 25 to aperforated extension 25 formed on a socket 26 which carries the lowerpart of the chair back.

The chair back 8 consists of a wooden frame, usually upholstered. Thisframe has a pair of side members 27, 28. As shown in Fig. 5, socket 26,which is preferably made of sheet metal, is tapered downwardly andinwardly. In order that side members 27, 28 may be received in the pairof sockets on the opposite sides of the chair, side members 27, 28 aretapered correspondingly at their lower ends. lNhen in place, the back 8is firmly secured in the pair of sockets 26 by suitable fastening means,such as screws 29 extending through openings in the sockets and into theside members 27, 28. g

- Each socket 26 is pivotally mounted on the corresponding plate 10secured to the side board of the chair frame. For this purpose eachplate and socket is provided with regi'stering openings through whichextends a. rivet or pin 30. This rivet forms the pivotal connectionbetween the members.

With the arrangement above described, it:

will be evident that, since coil springs 15 are put in place undertension, they will serve Fig. 1.

normally to maintain the floating, camming members or bars 17 in theposition shown in This is due to the fact that each spring 15 tends torotate its corresponding pivoted plate 13 in a clockwise direction. Thismovement, through links 20, forces the lower part of the chair back 8rearwardly against the end board 7 of the chair frame,

thereby holding the upper portion of the back in its normal sittingposition. At the same time, the lower end of pivoted plate 13, moving tothe left, carries with it the floating bar 17 Thus, bar 17 movesforwardly, until its pivot pin 21 reaches the front end of the slot inlink 20; During this movement,

the bearingportion 18 at the upper end of 1 bar 17 slides along theunder face of the seat 9.- This serves to effect a certain verticalswinging movement of the seat, as will be explained shortly.

As shown in Fig. 2, when the upper portion of the chair back is swungrearwardly about its pivot pins 30, towards the lounging or recliningposition, links 20 are forced forwardly. This results in pivoted plates13 being rotated in a counter-clockwise direcion against the graduallyincreasing tension of coil springs 15 which latter always tend to returnthe parts to the normal position of Fig. 1. Movement of the lower endsof plates 13 in this directionfirst causes floating bars 17 to be forcedrearwardly until their pivot pins have moved out of the inclinedportions 24 of slots 22. Pivot pins 21 then continue their rearwardmovement in slots 22. As a result of both the inclined position of links20 and the inclination of the slots 22,.the outer bearing ends 18 of thefloating bars 17 gradually move from their elevated position of Fig. 1to their lowered position of Fig. 2.

The chair seat 9, which comprises a frame 31 and upholstery 32, is alsomounted pivotally in chair frame 1. The pivotal connection between theseat and the chair frame is located at the front of the chair andincludes two small metal plates 33. A plate 33 is suit ably secured, asby scr'ews, to the front portion of each of the side boards of the seatframe 31. Each plate 33 has an inclined slot 34 which is open at itslower end to receive a headed pivot pin or stud 35 onthe chair frame 1.Clearance is provided under plate 33 to permit free movement of the headof stud 35.

With the construction described, it will be seen that the seat ispivoted near its front edge, while the rear portion thereof rests on theupper ends of floating bars 17 and is free to be elevated or lowered bythese members upon operation of the chair back.

As stated, the seat and back are normally held in sitting position, asshown in Fig. 1, by means of springs 15. Then the chair is occupied, theparts are further maintained in this position by the weight of theoccupants body on the rear portion of the seat. The resulting downwardpressure on this portion of the seat tends to force the rear ends ofbars 17 downwardly, as a result of which the pivot pins 21 of thesemembers bind tightly against the lower edges of the slots in links 20.In other words, as far as pressure applied to the chair seatisconcerned, the mechanism interconnecting the seat and the back is lockedagainst .movement. Movement of the mechanism must be effected byoperation of the-back. This is so,

'no matter what the relative position ofthe sition, the occupant merelyexerts a slight pressure against the back of the chair. At the same timehe naturally raises most of his weight from the rear portion of theseat. This lessens the frictional resistance in the operatingconnections and the parts function as heretofore described. It will beseen that the presenceof inclined slot portions 24 causes an initialrelatively high resistance to movement of the parts from the sittingposition. As soon as pins 21 reach the main portion of slots 22 however,this resistance is overcome and adjustment of the parts is accomplishedmore readily.

As is evident, movement of the back rearwardly toward the recliningposition results in a gradual lowering of the rear portion of the chairseat. This is accomplished without any change in the height of the frontportion of the seat and thus serves to adjust the body supportingportions of the chair, so as to render them most comfortable.

The occupant will still have full control over the relative angularrelation of the seat and back, whether these parts be in sitting or fulllounging position, or in any intermediate position. This is due, in themain, to the frictional resistance to continued movement of the partscaused by the binding action of pivot pins 21 in the slots in links 20,as a result of the Weight of the occupants body on the rear portion ofthe seat. The occupant is thereby relieved of any strain or effort inorder to maintain the part in adjusted position.

In full reclining position, further movement of the parts is preventedby the engagement of ends 18 of bars 17 with the upper edges of links20. Shoulders 36 provided on the outer edges of back frame members 27,28 also serve as limiting stops by engaging with end board 7 of thechair frame (see Fi 2).

is soon as the occupant removes the weight of his body from the rearportion of the seat, coil springs 15 operate through the mechanismdescribed to move the back towards full sitting position. As the backmoves in this direction, the rear portion of the seat is graduallyelevated to its normal sitting position.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction, since it isnotintended to restrict the invention to the structure illustrated,except as it may be limited by the appended claims.

What isclaimed is:

1. In a chair, the combination of a frame; a seat pivotally mounted atits forward edge for vertical swinging movement in the frame a backpivotally mounted intermediate its ends in the frame; and operativeconnections between the seat and the back, including a bodily movablemember carried by said operative connections and slidably supporting thefree end of the seat, for effecting a downward swinging movement of therear portion of-the seat upon rearward swinging movement ofthe back.

- 2. In a chair, the combination of a frame; a seat movably mounted inthe frame; a back -mounted for swinging movement in the frame; andoperative connections between the seat and-the back for causingsimultaneous movement of the seat and the back, said connectionsincluding a pair of crossed members supported by the frame and having apin-and-slot connection intermediate their ends, one of said membersbeing connected to the back and the other engaging the seat, saidcrossed members also being movably connected together, whereby movementof the chair back operates the seat engaging member and effects relativemovement of the pin and slot to actuate the seat.

8. In a chair, the combination of a frame; a seat pivotally mounted inthe frame; a back pivotally mounted in the frame; and mechanism betweenthe back and the seat for effecting movement of the seat when the backis operated, said mechanism including a pair of interconnected crossedmembers pivotally connected together at their point of intersection andat one end, said members at their opposite ends being one in engagementwith the movable seat and the other connected to the back.

4. In a chair of the reclining type, the com: bination of a frame; aseat pivotally mounted therein; a back pivotally mounted in the frame;and means interposed between the back-and the seat to adjust the seatupon movement of the back, said means including a pair of crossedmembers having a pin-andslot connection with each other intermediatetheir ends, a member pivotally mounted on the frame and pivotallyconnecting the forward ends of the crossed members, and a springconnecting one end of said pivoted member to the frame, the rear end ofone of said crossed members being connected to the back and the rear endof the other crossed member frictionally supporting the seat.

5. The combination in a reclining chair of a frame; a seat pivotallymounted at its front edge in the frame; a back pivotally mounted in theframe; a pair of crossed members pivotally mounted at each side of theframe, said crossed membersbeing pivotally connected intermediate theirends, the ends-of certain of said members being connected to the backand the ends of the other members frictionally supporting the rearportion of the seat; and spring means for normally maintaining theback-in an upright, sitting position.

6. The combination in a reclining chair of a frame; a seat pivotallymounted in the frame; a back pivotally mounted in the frame; and meansconnecting the seat and the back for operating the seat upon movement ofthe back, said means including a member movably mounted onthe frame andengaging theseat, and a second: member operatively connected to the backand to the first-mentioned' member, said members also havingseparateslidable engagement with each other intermediate their ends,whereby actuation of the chair back operates the seat engaging memberand shifts the point of slidable engagement between said members to movethe seat. e

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ISAAC C. DECKER.

